the Museum, has contributed a work of a more general nature which will stand worthily among these publications.
His book is an admirable achievement. The history of science appears to be coming into its own, not only among scientists but also among layman, and this is cause for gratification.
The young scientist commits an error if he neglects to study the history of his science and related sciences.
For the student is given a simplified account of the discoveries of a Galileo, a Faraday, or a Harvey so that he misses the wonder in the achievement, and thinks the discovery so completely obvious that he could have made it himself.
Knowing nothing of the contemporary state of knowledge or the equipment available, he fails to appreciate the master's accomplishment.
Mr. Pledge furnishes an adequate background for the figures in his history, not failing to treat with the difficulties and failures they encountered.
In most histories of science, the actors are seen against the intellectual and philosophical background of their times.
Our author has chosen as his background the human and economic aspects of the successive periods and this gives a more realistic atmosphere to the story he has to tell.
A decided asset to the book is the inclusion of an adequate treatment of the part played by mathematics, notably as the foundation for nineteenth century physics.
The layman may encounter scme difficulty with these passages but they seem to have been inserted in such a manner that they can be skipped by the non-mathematician without detriment to the continuity.
Mr. Pledge's book should be read and appreciated by anyone interested in the origin of cardinal ideas in science.
Solid and compact, it is, nonetheless, designed for continuous reading.